By Alexey Sukachev

Leeds, UK - BBBofC British, Commonwealth and European featherweight champion Josh Warrington has successfully transitioned from a continental standout to an international contender with a convincing display of skills in a unanimous decision over rugged but limited Filipino Dennis Tubieron over twelve heated rounds.

IBF #8, WBC #9 and WBA #12 rated Englishman from Leeds started quickly. Southpaw Tubieron, considerably smaller than his opponent (he is a former bantamweight) chose to rumble with presumably feather-fisted favorite but found it difficult to land anything o note in the first couple of rounds. Warrington looked a bit worse in rounds three and four, as the Filipino fighter dug deep and had some success in head-to-head exchanges. However, it was a feeling that WBC #15 Tubieron was a little bit groggy, fighting and landing more on instinct than anything else.

In the fifth, timekeeper did a very poor job, allowing the round to last full four minutes, and Tubieron took some major punishment during the extra minute. He took it well though. It's to be noted that Warrington, 24, with zero stoppages in his first fifteen fights, has surprisingly upped his performance in the next five fights, going 5-0, with 4 KOs. However, Tubieron, twice stopped before, though on the brink on a stoppage loss via a number of unanswered blows, found something to counter with every time referee Victor Loughlin took a closer look. The rest of the fight was fought in spurts, and Warrington's were much more damaging. Tubieron, on the other hand, answered with punches every time thus making the contest competitive enough.

At the end, JohnKeane and Massimo Barrocecchio both had it 119-109 - for the British fighter, and Esa Lehtosaari scored it just a notch closer - 119-110. BoxingScene saw the fight 118-110 - for Warrington, a new owner of the WBC International featherweight title, who improves his record to 21-0, 4 KOs. Brave Tubieron is now 19-4-2, with 8 KOs.

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Martin Joseph Ward (11-0-2, 6 KOs) started slow in his rematch with Maxi Hughes (13-2-2, 2 KOs) but improved his game after the third round to force a retirement of his determined opponent past the fifth round. The critical damage has been done by a huge right uppercut in the fifth round, which had Maxi's nose busted badly.

Ward acquired a vacant WBC International super featherweight title in this contest. Their first meeting ended in a majority draw in December.

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Previously undefeated light welterweight Liam Taylor, 24, was taught a painful lesson by the much more experienced domestic contender Tyrone Nurse, 25, in a fight that wasn't all too close. Nurse scored a unanimous decision over ten rounds.

Taylor, who now fall to 11-1, 4 KOs, looked superior to his opponent in the opening moments of the fight. But when Nurse has finally found his groove, it turned to the worse for his opponent. Nurse, as always, showed a lack of killer instinct, dealing a prolonged beating instead. He was reserved, relaxed, paid little attention to Taylor's weak punches, and was very sharp. However, he lacked firepower to get the job done. Nevertheless, he dropped Taylor with a picturesque body shot late into the fifth, which was incorrectly ruled a low blow by referee Steve Gray, and then knocked him down with a liver shot in the seventh stanza.

All three judges had it unanimously for Nurse: 97-93, 97-92 and 98-92, while BoxingScene had it 100-89 - for the same fighter. Nurse improves to 31-2, with 6 KOs.

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Undefeated Irish super featherweight Jono Carroll, 22, a sensational winner of the last year's version of the Prizefighter series (beating established veterans Stephen Foster and Gary Buckland along the way) improved his record to 7-0, 1 KO, with a workmanlike decision over rugged Spaniard Carlos Perez (4-3, 1 KO). The sole score of referee Michael Alexander was 60-54.

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Former BBBofC English and British light heavyweight champ Bob Ajisafe (15-2, 6 KOs) made a short work of Georgian journeyman George Kandelaki (14-13, 4 KOs), who shouldn't be confused with undefeated former heavyweight contender of the same name, also from Georgia. Time of stoppage was 1:53

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Other results:
Isaac Chamberlain (2-0) PTS 4 Jason Jones (0-5). The sole score was 40-37.
Reece Cartwright (6-0, 1 KO) TKO 4 Artur Sankowski (2-6, 1 KO). Time was 1:27
Carl Chadwick (2-0, 1 KO) TKO 2 Kevin Hanks (3-7). Time was 0:28.